Guest commentary by Scott Tipton: Water is the lifeblood of the West. While Easterners may find it difficult to understand, the people of Colorado need no reminder that state water law and the rights it protects are sacred to Westerners of all political stripes.

On the verge of a major phase of construction on its long-awaited Pandora water treatment plant, the Town of Telluride has started to explore ways to patch the project’s significant funding shortfall. And finding that money — an estimated $4 million to finish the project by 2014 — won’t be easy.

A number of water bills introduced by Sen. Mary Hodge have been signed by Gov. John Hickenlooper.

With irrigation season comes the cleaning and repairing of irrigation ditches. Colorado law saddles water-right owners with a number of legal responsibilities. It also, however, affords water-right owners significant rights.

Lobbying from the very highest level of the U.S. Forest Service has scuttled a state representative's bid to keep the federal government from claiming water rights at ski areas. Rep. Jerry Sonnenberg, R-Sterling, said he expects his House Bill 1013 to die without a vote in May, when the Legislature adjourns for the year.

Ranchers and growers in the Roaring Fork Valley and elsewhere in the Colorado River basin would have a new incentive for conserving water without jeopardizing their water rights under legislation moving forward in the Colorado Legislature. The drought-fueled measure, put forth by state Sen.

U.S. Rep. Scott Tipton, R-Cortez, pressed Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on water rights during a committee hearing Tuesday, saying he was frustrated with the federal government's 2011 attempt to circumvent state law. Two years ago, the U.S. Forest Service issued a directive forbidding ski areas from selling their water rights to anyone other than the next operator of the ski area.

Montrose County has given up its objection to a state filing for in-stream flow rights on the San Miguel River in exchange for the Uravan Trust’s water rights when those become available. County commissioners on Thursday approved a stipulated agreement with the Colorado Water Conservation Board concerning the board’s application for in-stream flow rights.